Officers in every police department in Ocean County soon will carry naloxone, also known as Narcan, that allows them to revive someone suffering from a heroin overdose. / AP file photo

Written by

Erik Larsen

Asbury Park Press

TOMS RIVER — People who overdose on heroin in Ocean County soon will have access to an antidote that can revive them — and it will be administered to them by the police.

The new program, which will be available in all of the county’s 33 municipalities, is slated to begin early next year. It involves the prescription drug naloxone, sold under its brand name Narcan.

The antidote can temporarily reverse the potentially lethal effects of heroin so that first responders have enough time to revive an unconscious victim — even one who has stopped breathing — before arriving at a hospital for further medical treatment. It can be used with any drug with opioids, which include prescription narcotic painkillers.

Dr. Kenneth G. Lavelle, medical director of Emergency Training & Consulting, addressed police chiefs this week to discuss the program that will to dispense a nasal inhalant form of Narcan to police departments.

The drug costs about $25, and the training of officers would take just 15 minutes, Lavelle said.

“You can actually give it, just like a nasal spray,” Lavelle said. “The individual (police officer) would open up the box, pop off two pieces of plastic, assemble it, and they would just hold this to the nose and squirt. There are no needles. There are no risks.”

Lavelle said giving police access to Narcan makes sense, because they are the first responders on any scene after 911 is called.

“It’s not new. It’s new in Jersey, but it’s been used throughout Massachusetts,” he said. “Suffolk County, New York has also been doing it, and they have had a few hundred ‘reversals’ on (victims), from unconscious or not breathing.”

Lavelle said if Narcan can save even 10 percent of heroin overdose victims, it’s worth the minimal expense and training time.

Lavelle also is working with police in Camden County, but Ocean County would be the first in New Jersey to implement a Narcan program on a countywide level. Outside of New Jersey, various police departments in New York, Kentucky, Ohio and Massachusetts have had Narcan in their police cruisers.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato, who spearheaded the project here, said he also wants to get the word out that anyone who lives with a heroin addict is permitted have Narcan in their home, under a law recently enacted by Gov. Chris Christie.

“I’ve got mixed emotions,” Coronato said. “I’m not trying to condone what people are doing, but at the same time this is all about saving someone’s life.”

So far this year, 102 people in Ocean County have died of overdoses, and two other deaths are expected to be ruled overdoses once toxicology reports are completed, the prosecutor said. Last year, 53 people died in the county as a result of overdoses.

Coronato said if the current rate holds by New Year’s Day, the death toll for the year could be 120.

“That’s unconscionable,” he said.

“We have to do something. This is about saving a life. It’s not about arresting anybody. It’s not about charging anybody. Have no fear, I will be out there charging the drug dealers, going after the drug dealers.”

Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office, said Narcan also may be the catalyst for someone recognizing that they have a problem with addiction.

“At this critical moment, when they’re at the brink, that close to death, it might make a difference in terms of getting them to turn things around and seek rehab, and move away from heroin,” he said.

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